Steve Vogel, a columnist for the Pantagraph newspaper in Bloomington, Illinois, had this startling piece of news in a recent column:
Did you notice part of Bloomington-Normal’s link to Route 66 just disappeared? … the L&L Motel on Morrissey Drive has been leveled … the new property owners are the folks at Grady’s Pizza and Family Fun Park next door, who plan to redevelop the site, though the immediate future involves only expanded parking …
The L&L Motel technically wasn’t on Route 66. Instead, it was on Illinois Highway 150. Still, the motel sat only a block north of Route 66, and the vintage postcard above shows the lodging establishment didn’t hesitate to play up its proximity to the Mother Road.
Finding historical information about the L&L Motel proved difficult. It obviously had fallen into poor maintenance in recent years, as a listing in the Bed Bug Registry would indicate.
I did find this article from 1996 in the Pantagraph that contained this except:
The L&L Motel at 1507 Morrissey Drive, Bloomington, is owned and managed by Jon and Ami Trivedi, who proudly call their non-franchised facility “one of the last of its kind.”
There also was a holdup at the motel in 1966.
County property-assessment records weren’t much help; they listed as the date built as “unknown.” Based on the architecture, I’m guessing it was built in the 1950s or earlier.
And the property was mostly unchanged from the old image seen above. Below is an excerpt of a Google Street View image from 2011:
The abrupt teardown of this motel is an example why the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed Route 66 motels among its “most endangered” of 2007.
Nearly a decade later, not much has changed.
(Vintage image of the L&L Motel in Bloomington courtesy of 66Postcards.com)
This Motel had seen its better days that’s for sure. The owners Jon and Ami had sold it back in 1997 and from then on it just went downhill.
I think the hotel was sold in 1998-99 and the new/current owners don’t know their names let it fall into disrepair.